


The Day the Detective Forgot

by CinnamonZor



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series, persona - Fandom
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Comedy, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Insecure Naoto, Kanji's Bullet Necklace, Last-Minute Panic, Living Together, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:26:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonZor/pseuds/CinnamonZor
Summary: Naoto Shirogane may be a prodigy, but even geniuses forget things from time to time. Unfortunately, one of those things just happened to be her boyfriend's twenty-third birthday.





	1. Memory is a Fickle Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this fic my own present to Kanji! Because there's no way I wouldn't take the opportunity to celebrate my precious cinnamon roll husbando! (And a shameless excuse to write domestic KanNao because we will always need more of these beans being cute together) <3<3<3

It all began while Naoto Shirogane was analyzing a case file on the string of unusual cat burglaries in Okina. It was certainly an interesting puzzle, but nothing the famed Detective Prince couldn't figure out with a bit of brainstorming. Naoto was about halfway through narrowing down the likely means of entry when the door behind her opened and Chie Satonaka entered the room.

"Hey, Naoto," the cheerful officer called over in greeting. "What're you doing in the evidence locker? Putting together a secret project or something?"

"Ah, hello to you as well, Chie-senpai," Naoto muttered without so much as glancing away from the folder. "I apologize for any confusion. I'm analyzing this new burglary case and was hoping the solitude would help me with my deductions."

"I keep telling ya you don't have to call me that," Chie sighed. "I mean, we are friends, after all. And besides, you're technically my superior anyway."

"Hmm," the blue-haired detective mused with a slight grin. "I suppose old habits do truly die hard."

"Yeah, I guess," Chie said, still not entirely buying into it. Her mouth slightly turned upward into an eager smirk. "So you really don't have some kinda 'secret project' going on in here?"

"Of course not," Naoto replied, still reading the file. Chie crossed her arms and peered over Naoto's shoulder.

"So I guess whatever you're doing is already prepared, huh?" she prodded. "I guess I shoulda known you have something ready in advance." For the first time that day, Naoto looked up from her case file and turned to face Chie. The brunette recognized that face instantly from her friend's many, many hunches over the years. Naoto was in full-on Detective's Intuition Mode.

"Satonaka, is there perchance a reason you have asked me multiple times if I'm planning something?" Naoto slightly raised her right eyebrow and snapped the folder shut with one hand. Chie just gave her a confused look and tapped her toe on the concrete floor.

"Well, yeah," she answered. "I mean, I know you don't really like talking about relationships and stuff, but I figured you wouldn't mind talking about any special plans you had today. I mean, I asked for your opinion on my plans for Yukiko last month and you seemed fine with the subject."

"I suppose so, but why would you be asking about my Christmas plans nearly a month after the holiday has passed?" Naoto inquired. "Surely you wouldn't assume I have anything decided eleven months in advance?"

"Christmas?" Chie responded, clearly confused.

"Yes, of course," Naoto replied. "What other plans did you discuss with me concerning your relationship in December?"

"Uh, Yukiko's birthday on the eighth. Duh," Chie answered.

"But that was even further in the past," Naoto interjected. "And I most certainly am not planning anything for Yukiko-senpai's birthday, especially now."

"You're… kidding, right?" Chie asked, scratching her head. "Naoto, you do know what day it is, right?"

"It's Saturday, is it not?" Naoto responded matter-of-factly. Chie's eyes began to widen.

"Wait," she sputtered. "You're joking, right?"

"About what? I fail to see why you're behaving in such a distraught manner," the detective inquired, folding her arms.

"Naoto, what's today's date?" Chie asked as she practically stared at her friend.

"Today's date?" Naoto repeated. She put her index finger across her mouth in thought. "If I remember correctly, today is January nineteenth, two-thousand… nine… teen…" Suddenly, she began trailing off as she finally connected the dots. "Wait… so, today is…"

"IT'S KANJI'S BIRTHDAY, YOU MORON!!" Chie yelled in her usual frustrated holler. "How the hell did you forget your own boyfriend's birthday after six years?!"

"I-I've been occupied with work this month! It just slipped my mind!" Naoto stammered anxiously. "And for the record, we've only been together for four years!"

"I'm counting the two you guys spent being too embarrassed to confess to each other," Chie corrected. "That's not the issue though! If Kanji finds out you forgot completely, he's gonna be crushed!"

Naoto knew she was right. Trivial celebrations had never been of interest to her before, but the opposite was true for Kanji. Even when they were apart during the earlier years of their relationship while Naoto was working toward her master's degree, Kanji would jump at the chance to acknowledge every last significant day or event with a cheerful phone call or a package containing one of his signature homemade gifts. Hell, Naoto wouldn't have even considered the existence of half the occasions without Kanji's eagerness to celebrate them. As pointless as it was, Naoto somehow found herself enjoying and even looking forward to celebrating seemingly random events with her boyfriend.

Yet even Naoto had considered birthdays worth at least acknowledging before meeting Kanji. She guiltily gripped the bullet necklace he'd given her back in high school, trying not to think about the sheer despair he'd be in if he found out she forgot something so important. He didn't deserve to feel neglected, especially today of all days. Naoto cared for him too much to let that happen. She needed to fix this.

The blue-haired woman took a deep breath and quickly turned back to her case file, reviewing the evidence once more with newfound determination. Before Chie could say anything else, Naoto took out a mechanical pencil and started furiously writing notes on the file. After about a minute of writing, she firmly shoved the folder into the perplexed officer's arms.

"It's the landlord's ex-girlfriend," she proclaimed in her typical deadpan tone. "She stole his keys one-by-one while they were dating and made copies before covertly returning them. She broke up with him abruptly because she had all she needed for her plan and waited enough time to seem like she'd moved on before beginning her string of burglaries." Chie read through the file in amazement as Naoto swiftly walked out of the evidence locker. "Thank you for the reminder, Satonaka! Please hand the file to Dojima-san for me!" she called over her shoulder as she left.

Obstacle One was out of the way.


	2. Crowdsourcing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With no ideas and limited time, Naoto decides to turn to a friend for advice.

The benefit of being a detective in such a small town is that it takes a decent amount of time to receive cases where your assistance is warranted. With no new assignments after getting the OK on her work, Naoto left the station early to devote the rest of the day to solving her predicament. Now came the challenging part: devising a plan that she could pull off in a single afternoon.

Unfortunately for Naoto, planning such a thing was far outside her area of expertise. If past experience was any indicator, it could take her several days to come up with something decent even without having limited time and resources. Her only option was to consult outside input, first narrowing her options to the former Investigation Team members (she was too embarrassed to consult anyone else), and then eliminating those from the group that she deemed less than ideal choices.

Kanji was out for obvious reasons and Chie was supposed to be leaving for patrol right around now, so she was busy.

Marie would be less than useful thanks to her relative inexperience with human customs and relationships, which also eliminated Teddie if his failure to comprehend basic tact didn't disqualify him enough already.

Yukiko would likely suggest making a cake, which Naoto most definitely didn't have enough time to pull off, and anything else the detective could imagine her suggesting would probably be too eccentric for Kanji's tastes.

In spite of his being in a happy relationship as well, Naoto was fully aware that Yosuke was an absolute disaster when it came to romantic ideas. Fortunately, that only spoke well for Yu's ability to deal with mishaps such as her own, pegging their former leader as an ideal consultant.

Rise was typically useful in these types of situations, so she was also left for consideration. Nanako almost made the list as well, but she was still in school at the moment and Naoto didn't want to interrupt her studies.

And so, after comparing the two finalists for a minute, Naoto decided Yu was likely her safest and most useful bet. She texted him a request to call her when he had time, not wanting to interrupt in case he was occupied at the moment.

Naoto: NEED ADVICE, PLZ CALL WHEN CONVENIENT

She sent the message and sat at the covered picnic table beside her. She had been wandering near the Samegawa River to avoid the shopping district. She couldn't risk Kanji spotting her from the textile shop. She attempted to think of something on her own to no avail for the next ten minutes until her phone finally buzzed. She quickly checked the caller ID, confirming it was from Yu.

"Good afternoon, senpai. I apologize for seeking your assistance on such short notice."

"Hey, Naoto," replied the person on the other end. Naoto froze in place. The voice was definitely familiar, but it was far too upbeat to be Yu.

"Y-Yosuke-senpai?!" Naoto exclaimed, gripping her necklace again. She picked up the habit of doing so whenever she was anxious, and this was definitely an apt reason to do so. "But the caller ID…!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," he replied guiltily. "Yu left his phone on the counter this morning and I'm bringing it to him on my lunch break. He's in an appointment for the next hour so I figured I'd try to respond for him in case it was urgent."

"That's… surprisingly considerate of you," Naoto replied. She heard Yosuke grumble a bit at her comment. "I'm simply teasing. Thank you, senpai. However, while I appreciate your concern, I doubt you would be much help in this particular instance."

"Oh come on. I'm no Yu Narukami, but I can be helpful too, you know," Yosuke laughed. "I mean, unless it's about therapist stuff. Then you should probably wait till he's available."

"No, it's…" she paused for a second, wondering if telling Yosuke about this was really the right idea. "I'm in need of relationship advice. The situation is somewhat dire."

"Oh shit," Yosuke muttered. "Are you gonna dump Kanji? At least wait until tomorrow or something. You'd have to be a total scumbag to dump him on his birthday."

It was at that point when Naoto somehow felt even dumber than she did upon first discovering her error.

"…You knew today was Kanji's birthday?"

"Yeah," Yosuke replied in a somewhat confused tone. "Why? Did the cookbook we got him not arrive yet? Coulda sworn we got the address right…"

"Uh, I'm not entirely sure," Naoto sighed in embarrassment. "Although, the subject does happen to be relevant to my own dilemma."

"What, the cookbook?" Yosuke questioned. "You getting sick of his cooking or something?"

"I am not breaking up with Kanji," Naoto stated firmly. "I simply need assistance in fixing a mistake I have made."

"Really? Well in that case, maybe it's a good thing I picked up! If anyone knows how to fix their own screw-ups, it's me! …Wait, why the hell am I proud of that?!"

"That… actually never occurred to me," Naoto mused. "I initially decided against calling you for that very reason, but you likely have more experience in this area than anyone else I considered."

"You're pushing it, Shirogane," Yosuke grumbled. "So what did you even do anyway? I doubt Kanji could even get mad at you for anything outside of dangerously neglecting your own wellbeing again."

"I, um…" Naoto gripped her necklace again and sighed. "I may have forgotten today was his birthday."

"Wait, SERIOUSLY?!" Yosuke exclaimed.

"Aren't you a room away from a therapist's office right now?" Naoto reminded him.

"I'm not an idiot, Naoto! I went outside when I called you so I wouldn't interrupt!" Naoto decided to wait a few seconds to test a hunch she had devised.

"…Again." There it was.

"Would I be correct to assume that was how you found out he had a patient at the moment?"

"Maybe…" Yosuke mumbled. "Wait! That's not the point! How the hell'd you forget Kanji's birthday?! I'm like the unofficial 'screw-ups poster boy' and even I haven't forgotten Yu's birthday before!"

"I've been occupied with work this month!" Naoto sputtered into the receiver. "Look, could you please just help me think of something I can pull off quickly?!"

"Sure. Uh, lemme think," Yosuke pondered. "Well, I'm pretty sure making a cake is out at this point, so you should probably get one from Junes. And before you ask, no that was not meant to be a shameless advertisement." Naoto smirked a bit at that. "You should also try to find him a present. You know what he likes better than I do, so I'll leave ideas for that up to you. But I would suggest looking for it in Okina since there's no way the shopping district's got anything he wants that he doesn't have already. Of course, if you're really pressed for time you could probably find something passable at Junes too."

"What would you suggest in terms of itinerary?" Naoto inquired. "This is the first year we've been in the same place on his birthday since high school, so I don't exactly have prior knowledge to utilize."

"Well, he's usually the one who cooks, right?" Yosuke asked back. "You could always give him a day off and make something yourself. If our cookbook arrived, maybe try something from that. Or just go for something he's mentioned is a favorite of his. You have always been the cautious type, after all. Doubt you be too willing to try something you don't already know he likes."

Naoto was almost distracted from Yosuke's advice by its surprising insightfulness. The two had been at least close acquaintances for years now, but she didn't expect such an accurate understanding of her personality from him. He really had become more aware of others since their days as an investigation team.

"Oh!" Yosuke blurted. "And if you know any special 'gimmicks' he's into, you should totally pull those out later tonight!"

Naoto stared ahead in silence as her cheeks turned bright red. It was not from the winter breeze. "What do you mean by 'gimmicks?'" she asked, in spite of being almost certain she knew what Yosuke was talking about.

"You know," he muttered. "Like… uh… 'bow-chicka-bo-" _**BOOP!**_

He didn't even get to finish the sound effect before Naoto promptly hung up on him. There was no way she was listening to any more of that advice. She made a mental note to inform Yu of his boyfriend's less-than-appropriate suggestions once he got his phone back.

…Though it may not be a bad idea in spite of that. Particularly when she disregarded that the subject had been reluctantly conversed with Yosuke.

Wait, no! This was not the time to stand around contemplating that! Naoto had work to do! In spite of the last suggestion, Yosuke's advice had actually been quite helpful, but she still needed to hurry to prepare everything before Kanji returned from the textile shop. With no time to waste, Naoto checked her phone clock and hurried to the train station. The next train to Okina was leaving in fourteen minutes.

Obstacle Two had been surpassed as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I did not expect to finish the chapter this quickly. Granted, I was half-done when I posted the first one. And, if Marie's mention didn't make it evident enough, this is following the Golden true ending post-canon. In case that affects anything else. Doubt it will, but it probably wouldn't hurt to mention. Anyway, next chapter's coming out in maybe a week or so. Rough guesstimate. Anyway, hope you're enjoying it so far!


	3. Cooking Naoto - Let's Start!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoto returns from gathering supplies to enact the next step in her last-minute preparations.

If Naoto had been told this morning that a red and blue bear would be romping around her apartment, she would likely refuse to believe it. And yet, here she was, chasing Teddie around her living room in an attempt to keep him from messing the place up any further. His delighted rampage only came to an end when the detective pulled her revolver, intimidating him into total submission with her empty threat.

"AAAA!!" He threw his arms in the air, practically tipping over backward. "I'll stop! I'll stop! Don't hurt my precious fur, Nao-chan!"

"I apologize for resorting to such drastic measures," Naoto sighed, returning her firearm to its hiding spot in her jacket. "However, I seem to recall excluding permission to rummage through everything in my apartment from our deal."

"I know," Teddie said dejectedly. "I just got so excited to finally see where you and Kanji have been living all this time. I'm bear-y sorry, Nao-chan…"

"It hasn't been 'all this time,'" Naoto corrected. "We haven't even lived here for a year. Now, I would appreciate if you were to please assist me as you promised."

"Okie-dokie!" Teddie cheerfully exclaimed. "These things were getting un-bear-ably heavy anyway!" The happy mascot unzipped his head, bursting out the top of his costume body with a gleeful yelp and his arms full of bags.

In spite of Naoto's best efforts to avoid doing so, the two had run into each other at Junes while she was buying a small cake. His childish antics and inability to keep a secret pegged Teddie as the absolute last person Naoto wanted to be aware of her plight. Even so, she had decided to make the most of her otherwise misfortune by taking it as an opportunity to transport dinner ingredients as well. And so, in exchange for allowing Teddie to finally visit her and Kanji's apartment, she requested that he help carry the grocery bags home by storing them in his costume-like body while she carried the cake box.

Teddie set the bags on the floor next to the kitchen counter, as per Naoto's instructions. She followed up with a quick inventory to make sure he hadn't broken or eaten anything, confirming that all the groceries were safe and sound.

"Thank you for your assistance, Teddie," Naoto said with a relieved smile. "You were an excellent help, as always."

"Yay! Nao-chan appreciates me!" Teddie cheered happily, putting his head back on and dancing side-to-side. "What a day!"

"Speaking of today," the blue-haired woman interrupted, "I have an extremely limited amount of time to prepare. And while I appreciate your presence, I believe you are still scheduled to work right now. Shouldn't you return to Junes before the manager realizes you've disappeared?"

"Huh…?" The bear paused, his giant pupils shrinking to tiny dots. "GAHH!! NOOOOOOO!! I don't wanna get yelled at again!!" With a speed that seemed almost impossibly fast for someone with such stubby legs, Teddie bolted out the door. As he turned and sprinted down the road to Junes, Naoto smiled and shut the door behind him. She admittedly felt a little guilty for freaking Teddie out like this, but she knew she'd never get anything done with the bundle of pure distraction hanging around all afternoon.

"Now," she said out-loud to herself, pulling out her phone. "Where do I begin?" The device opened to a sweet-and-sour pork recipe Naoto had searched earlier. She had spent the train ride home from Okina searching for highly rated recipes that were easy to make, uncovering the site of acclaimed food blogger named "Homestyle Beanie." She had decided on the recipe by the time the train returned to Inaba and obtained the ingredients from her quick trip to Junes.

In spite of her relative inexperience with cooking, Naoto was still more than capable of following a recipe. So long as she followed every instruction to the letter, she felt confident that everything would be fine.

Naoto set the device flat on the island and lay the ingredients around it. The recipe supposedly took about two hours to properly prepare, meaning it should be finished just a few minutes after Kanji normally got back from the textile shop. Wasting no time, Naoto read the first step and got to work.

\------------------

The small patches of snow on the sidewalk crunched under Kanji's feet as he walked the path to the apartment. He stuck his finger under the frames of his glasses, rubbing his eye and letting out a small yawn. The shop had been unusually busy today and the sheer insufferability of some of the customers continued to astound him, even after all his years of helping out around the family business. The work itself gave him a nice respite, but his mental battery seemed to be drained even more than usual.

If it weren't for the calls and short visits from several of his friends, Kanji might have forgotten that it was his birthday. His mind lingered on the subject, wondering if Naoto had anything up her sleeve. He knew celebrations weren't exactly her thing, so he didn't expect much. Nor did he want to, for that matter. After a day like today, he decided anything would be fine so long as he got to spend time with his favorite person in the world.

Kanji let out another short yawn as he turned down the small gravel path to their building. He climbed the metal stairs up to the second floor and dug through his coat pockets until he found his keys, the small handmade accessories lightly grazing the front door as he unlocked it.

"Hey, Naoto," he called out as he stepped inside the apartment. "You back ye-…?"

"AAAA!"

"Eep!" Kanji turned left a bit toward the high-pitched yelps, discovering what had become of the kitchen. His eyes shot wide open at the realization that it had somehow become an incomprehensible mess of what appeared to be splattered food items. Various vegetables sat scattered across the counter, with hearty puddles of oil and sauce adorning the counter, floor, island, and walls. A cutting board with some sort of hacked-up meat thing was placed next to the running stove and a giant carving knife somehow stuck out of the meat, pinning it to the board. The island was covered in tipped-over Junes bags with several items spilling out of them. He was pretty sure he saw an egg yolk stuck to the cabinet as well.

And standing there, in the epicenter of the total destruction, was his food-stained girlfriend, attempting to hide the revolver she had been pointing at the familiar blond-haired creature beside her.

"What the hell's goin' on?!" Kanji yelped. "And why is Ted here?! I thought we weren't lettin' him find this place for this exact reason!"

"He, um, was supposed to be gone by now," Naoto mumbled, dusting herself off a bit before shooting a slight glare at Teddie.

"I'm innocent!" hollered Teddie, continuing to hold his hands in the air. "I just came back after I left my phone in one of the grocery bags! Yosuke said he wasn't gonna buy me new ones anymore and I already spent all my money on snacks!" The bear scratched his head nervously. "Oh! That reminds me. Can one of you call my phone? I never actually found it. Heh-heh…"

"I believe I clearly stated that I did not require your assistance," Naoto grumbled, not bothering to add to Teddie's request. "If you had simply taken your phone and left, none of this would have happened!"

"But you were so worried earlier!" Teddie whined, giving her his patented puppy-cub eyes. "I just wanted to help out a little! It's not my fault you have no sense of culinary adventure!" Naoto shot him yet another glare, promptly shutting him up.

"Can one of you please just tell me what the hell is goin' on?" Kanji grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I've had a long enough day already without havin' ta deal with Ted's insanity."

"I…" Naoto sighed, clearly exasperated, "may have been trying to make dinner for your birthday. It was actually going quite well until Teddie returned and insisted he 'help spice things up a little,' as he so eloquently phrased it."

"Hey!" Teddie snarled, taking clear offense to Naoto's accusation. "I only came back for my phone because I left it here after helping you carry groceries home!"

"Yes, but you still had absolutely no need to interfere with the preparation of our meal," Naoto retorted. "You easily could have retrieved your cellphone and returned to work once again."

"I waited until I was off work to come back! Why do you think I was gone for a whole half-hour?! I won't just let you accuse me of being irresponsible like that! Especially when you're the one who forgot it was-MMPH!!" Teddie's protests were promptly cut off by Naoto lunging forward and clapping a hand over his mouth, her face bright red. She pleaded internally for Kanji not to realize what Teddie had been trying to say.

"Oh no! Look at the time!" Naoto interrupted, failing to sound nonchalant in the slightest. "We should start cleaning the mess. Kanji, would you mind searching those bags for Teddie's phone?"

"Yeah, sure," he sighed, pulling out his phone and looking for Teddie's number in his contacts. "I'll help with the clean up when I find it."

"That won't be necessary," Naoto replied, handing Teddie a sponge and pointing him toward the items he spilled. "You weren't responsible for the mess. Besides, Teddie and I are fully capable of handling this on our own."

"Well, yeah," Kanji agreed, "but it'll still get done faster if more of us help out. 'Sides, you were doin' something nice for me, so I at least got some blame." He walked over to the overturned grocery bags, stopping to give Naoto a quick peck on the cheek. "S'only fair, ya know?"

"I suppose so." Naoto smiled a bit at his thoughtfulness. "Not to mention, the sooner everything is cleaned up, the sooner Teddie can head home."

"Why am I being excluded?" Teddie whined, gazing sadly at his friends. "I wanna celebrate with Kanji too!"

"Sorry, Ted. I'll hang out with ya next week if ya want," Kanji offered. "But ya gotta do a good job helpin' us fix this place." Naoto smiled again, handing Kanji one of the rags in her hands. His capacity for forgiving Teddie's antics was beyond admirable. Especially considering his surprisingly tidy nature and the disaster zone that had become of their kitchen.

"You mean it?" the shadow cheerfully responded, his innocent blue eyes lighting up as he rushed to start scrubbing egg off one of the cabinets. "Oh boy! You'd better keep your promise, Kanji! This bear is excited for topsicles!"

"Dude, how can ya even be thinkin' about eating ice cream in January?" Kanji groaned as he pushed the call button on his phone. "Whatever, just keep quiet for a sec or we won't hear your ringtone." The three didn't need to listen too closely, though, as the chorus to an infectiously upbeat Risette song began to loudly play from over by the couch two seconds later. Teddie lit up once more when he heard the song playing, but was stopped from rushing over to it by an unamused roadblock named Naoto, stepping in his way before he could leave the kitchen area.

"I'm sorry, Teddie," she flatly apologized, "but Kanji is going to hold onto your phone until we finish. Consider it extra insurance to prevent you from running off before this mess is properly cleaned." Teddie could do little more than let out a small, disappointed whine at the cross-armed woman before turning back and continuing to wipe up his mess.

And so, the three got to work cleaning Teddie's mess, attempting to rescue any still-useable ingredients they could. Upon realizing only the meat and a few of the veggies survived, Kanji held up his phone and turned to Naoto, who sighed and nodded in response, prompting him to order dinner from Aiya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I am so sorry this took so long to come out! (TwT) I didn't expect to be so friggin' swamped this month. Curse you, life, being all unpredictable and stuff. So, yeah, no more saying I'll probably get stuff done in a week (although it probably won't take longer than three to write the next one pending how stuff goes). It also kinda took me a bit to find a progression I was satisfied enough with for this one. The other chapters were honestly way easier to write. I'm still kinda iffy on how this one turned out, tbh. orz
> 
> On the other hand, happy belated Valentine's Day! Woo! And happy Futaba's birthday too! Wish I coulda made her something too, but again, swamped.
> 
> Anyway, if you're still waiting for the real fluff, don't worry. That's definitely next time. You know, when there's no more interrupting Teddie (he's still precious in spite of it, tho ^w^). Sorry for the wait again and hope some of you enjoy it so far!


	4. I'm Glad You Were Born

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everything seems to have fallen apart, Naoto blames no one but herself. Kanji notices and attempts to dispel her unwarranted guilt.

A hush fell over the dinner table as Naoto and Kanji dug into their food. As hard as she tried to enjoy her usually-delicious beef bowl, Naoto couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness bubbling within her gut.

Quiet dinners were far from unordinary for the two. As any of their friends were aware, small talk was far from either of their fortes. And by this point, neither thought it was necessary. Most days, the couple would spend entire meals simply enjoying their food in silence. Only the occasional memorable occurrence or important note would incite conversation, and that was enough. All they really needed to be happy was good food - which Kanji never failed to provide - and each other's comforting presence.

But all those pleasant meals had been ordinary days till now. Naoto's most recent birthday had fallen nearly nine months ago, back before she returned with her master's and the two moved in together. As such, she had no real frame of reference for what Kanji would expect for his own other than the numerous heartwarming gestures while she was gone.

The expectations were resting uncomfortably on her shoulders as her mind generated them faster than she could handle. And now that her initial plan had failed miserably, the anxiety of letting him down was seeping through every cell of her body. She likened it to the weakness she felt upon obtaining her Persona, hoping the crushing sensation wouldn't leave her bedridden for weeks like back in high school.

"Hey." Naoto's head jerked up at the sound of Kanji's voice. The soft, grey pinpoints of his eyes stared directly into her own. His facial features softened and his eyebrows raised slightly. Naoto recognized this expression immediately. He would always make this exact face when he was concerned for her. "Ya good? You've barely touched your dinner."

Naoto smiled guiltily and attempted to avoid giving off any possible tells. "I appreciate your concern, Kanji. However, I must assure you that I'm perfectly fine, in spite of whatever you may have deduced from my behavior."

Kanji crossed his arms and cocked his left eyebrow. "Bullshit," he stated in a calm, flat tone. Naoto couldn't keep herself from turning her eyes away, clutching the bullet on her necklace and slowly rubbing her thumb on the side.

"Is there a particular reason for these accusations?" She could have sworn she had suppressed any tells before now…

"You ain't nearly as focused as normal," Kanji responded matter-of-factly. "Otherwise ya woulda corrected my use of 'good' instead of 'well.' I may not be as good at detective stuff as you are, but I know ya well enough to tell when somethin's obviously botherin' ya."

Drat. He was right. No matter how unreadable Naoto prided herself on being, Kanji somehow always saw right through her unflinching poker face. It had certainly come in handy on numerous occasions when he gave her the opportunity to be open with her concealed feelings. It was nice to have someone who she never had to hide from, no matter how hard she tried to be a brick wall otherwise.

But even so…

"I assure you, it's nothing worthy of unnecessary concern," she stated calmly with closed eyes. "I wouldn't want to trouble you on your birthday, after all."

"Naoto, I told you a billion times," Kanji sighed, smiling softly and reaching over the small table to pat her shoulder. "If somethin's bothering you, ya shouldn't try ta bottle it up. That's what ya got me an' Yu-senpai for. We care about you a ton an' are always willing to listen. 'Sides, knowing you ain't enjoying yourself is only gonna make me worried too."

"Yes, but…" Naoto's voice trailed off, trying her best to find an explanation that wouldn't reveal her primary mistake. Unfortunately, Kanji would see through most attempts at lying or likely direct misplaced aggression toward the scapegoat of any fabricated incidents she devised. All that remained was to explain the motivation behind her refusal to share. "I… I've been feeling guilty. About letting you down today."

"What?" Kanji's expression turned confused as he stood from his seat and moved directly next to Naoto's chair. He placed his other hand on her opposite shoulder and knelt down to look her directly in the eyes once more. "Naoto, for a freakin' genius, you really don't get obvious shit sometimes." Well, that was hurtful. "Listen. Nothin' you do could ever disappoint me. You know that. Ya clearly haven't thrown yourself headfirst into somethin' deadly or anything, and that's seriously the only thing that could ever make me upset. 'Cept if you keep thinkin' you're doing somethin' wrong. You're the smartest, most interesting, most loveable person I've ever met. Ya gotta stop forgettin' that and doubtin' yourself all the time."

Naoto smiled and placed her hand on one of Kanji's, gently gripping her fingers around his own comforting, calloused ones. "You are fully aware that I could repeat the exact same statement for you without losing a shred of the accuracy." That got a small smirk out of her boyfriend, just before she leaned in and gave him a quick peck on his warm, thin lips. For just a quick moment, Naoto tasted the remaining flavor of the beef bowl he'd been eating. She really did need to eat more of her own meal too.

"Quit tryin' ta weasel out of openin' up," Kanji demanded flatly in spite of the faint, near-unnoticeable redness in his cheeks. "Bein' all smooth like that isn't gonna make me forget that you're blaming yourself for dumb shit again. Now come on. Talk ta me here."

"…Very well," sighed the bluenette. "I suppose I simply have been dealing with the anxiety of not living up to your expectations as a significant other. Particularly in terms of celebrating your birthday." Kanji gave another confused glance, but stayed silent so she could elaborate. "For years now, I've always found myself uncharacteristically reveling in the excuses you find to share affection and kind gestures. It always managed to brighten my mood when I was dealing with some frustrating event or made a pleasant day even more so to be greeted with one of your celebratory gifts or messages. And it showed just how importantly you hold the concept of taking time and effort to acknowledge even the most seemingly irrelevant opportunities." The soft smile on Kanji's face extended an inch or so and his fingers moved back and forth to gently massage Naoto's shoulders. Both of them took a moment to think back to the moments Kanji had taken to celebrate the most random occasions while she was away, happily recalling the blissful memories they shared from the past few years spent mostly apart.

"And so," Naoto continued, "I wanted to do the same for you today. With the level of attention you give to the most easily-overlooked of occasions, I could only imagine how highly you regard birthdays by comparison. I intended to do what I could to meet your standards. However…" Her stomach guiltily churned at the thought of what she knew she couldn't avoid admitting. "I… was insufficiently prepared. I became caught up in work and today's impending significance slipped my mind. The basic ideas for what to do were thrown together in the course of several minutes. In fact, had it not been for Yosuke-senpai of all people, I likely would have failed to formulate anything in time at all. Then everything began to fall apart, as you witnessed firsthand, and now here I am deflating an otherwise pleasant dinner with pointless self-pity."

She heaved a downtrodden sigh and rested her forehead on Kanji's shoulder, the pool of anxiety building up in her distressed gut. "I must apologize. I doubt I'd ever be capable of living up to your standards of festivity." Kanji gave out a low grumble and moved his hands to grab the sides of Naoto's shoulders. He then abruptly proceeded to lightly shake her back and forth, her head jerking off his shoulder as he held her to look directly into her eyes.

"Will you quit bein' a dumbass already?! I don't got any high standards for celebratin' my birthday!" Naoto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Ya know why I kept goin' all out for random shit that whole time?"

"I assumed it was because you enjoy celebrating things," Naoto answered, her tone uncertain. "Was there some other reasoning behind your gestures?"

Kanji just sighed and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Naoto's. "I kept giving' ya shit because I missed you, dammit," he responded softly. "I hardly got to see ya at all for four fuckin' years, so I went nuts at every random chance to show ya that I still cared. I dunno, I just… got freaked out that you'd think ya didn't need me anymore and I'd lose ya forever."

Naoto stared at him in shock. In part that he would think such things about himself, but mostly because she realized why. For years, she had prided herself on being self-sufficient. The lone wolf detective she'd grown to admire and shaped herself into becoming. The fear of slipping back to her old ways and drifting away from the others while studying on her own was far from unreasonable.

But she'd changed. She'd grown drastically more comfortable with relying on others. Hell, she'd been doing so all day. Back when she was fifteen, the idea of confiding in anyone, especially Yosuke, would be downright out of the question. Yet just this afternoon, she'd asked him for relationship advice without even putting up a fight. If she was able to trust Yosuke to give her advice, she knew she could always trust Kanji.

"I sincerely apologize for making you feel such a way," the bluenette muttered somberly. "However, I can assure you I have no plans of ever bringing those fears to fruition." Kanji just snorted at this and moved his face to plant a kiss on Naoto's cheek.

"Figure as much nowadays," he chuckled. "Explain it with whatever smart-soundin' crap ya want, but I know you wouldn't move in with me on just logic." Naoto smiled and slowly hugged him around the shoulders. He started beaming happily and hugged her back. After all this time, he still wasn't used to his girlfriend showing so much affection. The two stayed there for a bit in silence, feeling comforted by each other's presence.

"Ya know what I really wanted for my birthday?" Kanji inquired into Naoto's shoulder. She bristled a bit at the warmth of his breath, composing herself and lightly shaking her head side to side. "I wanted to just spend time with you. Didn't have to be big an' fancy or even that different from normal days. Even if ya did forget all day, I'd be fine with it 's long as I could spend time with ya like this. The fact that ya did anything on top a that is more than enough for me ta be happy. An' I don't ever wanna hear you freakin' out about disappointing me by goin' beyond that ever again."

"I suppose I could abide by that," Naoto mused contentedly, nuzzling into Kanji's broad shoulders as he planted another kiss on the side of her head. As much as she didn't want to leave his warmth, she remembered the gift she'd found him in Okina and realized she should probably retrieve it while the idea was fresh in her mind. "Wait right there," she instructed, pushing off his shoulders and fast-walking into their bedroom.

After promptly retrieving the messily-wrapped rectangle from the drawer in her nightstand (she'd tasked Teddie with wrapping it when he had come back to "help"), she swiftly returned to the table to find Kanji waiting patiently, now back in his own seat. "I know it's not as personal as the gifts you've given me in the past. Craft creations are far from my own forte," she reminded him as she slid the present in front of him on the table. "Even so, I spotted this in Okina this afternoon and concluded that you'd enjoy it."

"Naoto, I'd probably get hyped over Yukiko's gag glasses if ya gave 'em to me," Kanji joked, inspecting the gift in front of him. "So if ya worked your detective magic on figuring out what I'd like, I'll probably be ecstatic at whatever the hell it is." Naoto smiled and sat on his left leg, his arm wrapping around her back and pulling her closer as his other fiddled with the loose, crumpled wrapping paper. He quickly tore away the paper coating, revealing a silver, rectangular picture frame. A number of metal bunnies circled around the frame.

"Holy shit!" Kanji exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as he held the frame close to his face and stared gleefully at it. "This thing's so fuckin' cute! See, told ya I'd love it!"

"I appreciate your praise," Naoto chuckled. "As soon as I spotted a home décor shop, I realized we don't have any pictures of the two of us in the apartment. I browsed their selection of frames until I found one that best suited your tastes." Kanji pressed an enthusiastic kiss to Naoto's lips and hugged her tight.

"Ya found right," he exclaimed through his girlfriend's long blue hair. "Love ya, Naoto!" The bluenette's heart leapt in her chest. She'd far from grown immune to Kanji's proclamations of the "L-word," no matter how many times he'd told her since high school. In a way, she was glad she hadn't.

"I love you as well, Kanji," she muttered softly over his shoulder, running her hand through the soft black hair on the back of his head. There was a near indescribable feeling she always felt in moments like this. As paranoid and pessimistic as she could be, being here with Kanji always seemed to alleviate those fears. She felt like no matter what happened, she'd be fine so long as he was by her side. She reveled in this warm, fuzzy, secure feeling. She never wanted it to end. No matter how strange and uncharacteristic it felt. "I'm glad you were born today."

"Me too," Kanji replied. "Means I get ta be here with you." Naoto smiled again, briefly moving back before firmly planting her lips against his. Kanji was a bit startled, but quickly went along with the kiss. He loved these rare moments where Naoto initiated any sort of affection. It made them all the more special to him, adding the pride of having earned her appreciation to his already unending infatuation.

After a couple minutes, the two separated, panting heavily as a strand of saliva dangled between their lips. It was in that moment when Naoto recalled one last suggestion given to her that day. And, as awkward as said suggestion had been, she still could acknowledge that it was quite useful in the current moment. She caught her breath and hopped off Kanji's leg, grabbing his hand and dragging him away from the table.

"Uh, hey, Naoto?" he blurted, somewhat confused. "Where're ya goin'? Didn't ya say there was a cake or somethin'?"

Naoto simply looked back and smiled sheepishly. "The cake is in the fridge. It will last. I, uh, have one last 'present' in mind." Kanji took a second or two to process her statement, his eyes shooting open and his cheeks turning pink when he realized she was dragging him toward the bedroom door.

"Wha-OH!" Oh good. He'd connected the dots. "Yeah, that, uh… that definitely works too!" Naoto smirked at his mild awkwardness. He'd gotten much less so over time, but it was always amusing to see him suppress burning up in such scenarios. She slammed the door behind them and leapt up, clinging to Kanji's broad torso and resuming their previous make-out session.

\------------------

Sometime later, as Naoto began to fall asleep with Kanji's arms around her, her mind danced with the hopes of spending the nineteenth day of every January celebrating her favorite former delinquent. She nuzzled her face in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes, the hectic day finally coming to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behold. The frame Naoto gave him: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/450219293989368199/
> 
> And there you have it. Kyoot stuff. I hope I did tolerably for my first KanNao fic. These precious beans deserve good portrayals almost as much as they deserve each other.
> 
> And don't worry about the cake. It was happily eaten the next day. (^w^)


End file.
